Trapdoor
by Mia-Marauder-Potter
Summary: #3 in my Multiverse Series. An ill-timed curse mixed with Apparition sends Alexia to the Founders' universe. Unfortunately, the curse is more trouble than expected, and a cure can only be found in the universe of a familiar face - Adelaide.


**Alexia, Founders, Adelaide**

Alexia was _not_ happy.

They'd had two very long days filled with interviews and complicated timelines, trying to explain a rather inexplicable crime that had been committed three days prior that involved a transfigured hippogriff, a man polyjuiced to look like Albus-fucking-Dumbledore, and an odd stone that gave off no radiation and no magical signature - two things that every single thing gave off, even if only very little.

And then, in the middle of Obliviating a muggle shopkeep in London, there had been a loud and quite magical blast behind them. It caused her to drop his memories and certainly destroy pieces of his mind, and she spun around to put up a shield. When she did, she saw Death Eaters in their robes tossing curses all over the place.

Alexia jumped into the battle and began dueling while simultaneously attempting to herd muggles into shops for safety. It wasn't going well, and only five minutes into the battle, there were ten muggles dead and three being openly tortured.

She was being backed into a corner when a hand slipped into the hand she held behind her for balance. As a curse hit her chest, she was pulled away by Apparition, and the combination did something odd - there was a blinding pain through her entire being, and suddenly she couldn't see. It was entirely dark for about five seconds before there was a bright flash of light, and then everything returned to normal.

But Alexia was very aware of the hand that had grabbed her, so she ripped it away and backed up to throw her dagger at the person. They dodged it, just barely, and then immediately dropped their hood - not mask - so she could see them.

"Oh my god," she breathed out in great relief. She surged forward and wrapped her arms around the man before her. She was grateful when he grabbed onto her as well because just as he did, she nearly fell over.

"_Are you injured_?" he asked her. She shrugged slightly and stepped back, though she held onto his arm for support.

"_Something happened. I think I was hit with a curse._"

"_We certainly aren't where I meant to take us_," he agreed, looking around. It prompted her to do the same for the first time, and she was surprised at the sight around them.

"_Grimmauld Place_," she frowned. They stood in the hall by the door, and the sight of a portrait covered by a curtain made her tense. "_I don't think we're in 1998 anymore, Antonin. Something went very wrong._ _Sirius had Walburga removed last week._"

"_Sit_," he instructed. She did as he said, leading him into the nearby sitting room. He waved his wand over her silently as she cast a special _Tempus_ that told the time, as well as the date.

**14:00, 1st July, 1996**

"_Oh, fuck_," Alexia breathed. He glanced up at the date and swore under his breath.

"_You will live_, _but you should see a healer,_" he told her, still waving his wand over her. She felt magic seep into her core and breathed out in relief when some of the pain dissipated. "_Where are you, Hermione_?"

"_I think I'm in here somewhere, actually_," she grimaced.

"_Then perhaps we should leave_."

Alexia attempted to get to her feet, but her ankle gave out and he was forced to grab her to keep her from falling to the ground. "_Fuck, I can't- I twisted it earlier, it must've gotten worse when this happened._"

"_This is your territory, Hermione. I was in Malfoy Manor._"

She thought about what to do or where to go, and it took a moment. "_Hogwarts should be empty. We can go there for now_."

So, with a pleased smirk on his face, Antonin picked her up. He ignored her as she smacked his chest and told him to put her down, and instead took her through the floo to Hogwarts, where they came out in Dumbledore's office, which should have been empty as the first of every month was a Wizengamot meeting.

But it wasn't empty.

Four wands were pointed at them abruptly, prompting Alexia to put a blood shield up in front of them since she had free hands. Antonin gripped onto her tighter than before, his eyes sweeping the confusing sight before them.

"_This is wrong_," he guessed. She nodded rapidly.

"_I have a very bad guess where we are._"

"Antonin Dolohov," Godric Gryffindor announced, his eyes boring angrily into Antonin. "Release the girl!"

"And perhaps speak English," Rowena Ravenclaw requested.

"Okay, put me down," Alexia said. Antonin looked at her like she was insane, but she just waved him on. "I'm fine, Antonin. Just hold onto me and I won't fall."

"Hermione, I will not release you with wands pointed at you."

"To be clear, I think they're pointed at you," she laughed shortly. "So I'm safe. _Just take one of my daggers_."

He shifted slightly and snaked his hand down her leg to grab her other dagger from its sheath, but all four founders tensed.

"Put the weapon down," Salazar Slytherin demanded. "And the girl."

"Hey, we met," Alexia told Salazar. "Yeah, you came in with Harry."

"I am aware," he said shortly.

With a sigh, she tapped Antonin's chest. "_Put me down, love, or I'll curse you_."

Reluctantly, he carefully set her down. When she was on her feet again, he tugged her against his side, and she let him - her ankle stilled threatened to give out on her. "_I cannot use this dagger, Hermione._"

She offered him a small smile. "_I'm aware. They are not._"

"_Zmeya_," he said, his tone fond. Her smile turned into a slight grin at the word.

"Where is she?" Alexia wondered, looking to Salazar. "How's things going here?"

"She is with Sirius," he answered her. "Alexia, did he kidnap you?"

"No, he tried to save me from being fucking murdered," she rolled her eyes, irritated. "Or that's what he thought he was doing. I was holding up fine."

"Yes, the curse in your chest is evident of that," Antonin drawled.

"If you hadn't grabbed me, I'd have been fine!"

"Sal, you know her?" Helga Hufflepuff asked, her wand still trained on Antonin. Salazar nodded.

"She is another version of Hermione, as you can see."

"Hermione said Dolohov did horrible things to every version of her," Rowena reminded him.

"Not all of us," Alexia cut in. "Just most of us. Mine is… he's different. Look, if you get Hermione here, she can tell you."

"Hermione will go nowhere near Dolohov," Godric told her loudly. She cursed in Russian under her breath, making Antonin raise an eyebrow at her.

"Dorogaya, some of us can understand what you're saying," he reminded her.

"Good," she huffed. "You continue to be a multiverse thorn in my side, Antonin."

"_I_ did not curse her," he said sharply. "Nor did I curse or hurt the others."

"_Cursed and hurt me_," she made a face at him. "_Don't pretend you're so innocent. I'd be dead if it weren't for Lucius._"

"_Perhaps you shouldn't pretend you're still angry I hurt you_," he suggested, bristling at her irritation. "_This is not my fault, pet. The alternate versions of me did this._"

Alexia huffed and made a face at him. "_If it isn't your fault, prove to them you won't hurt her._"

His own irritation suddenly turned to a smirk. "_You're sure about that, Dorogaya_?"

She hesitated, glancing at the founders, who were watching them, both tense and curious. "_Yes?_"

Antonin pulled her forward and pressed his lips to hers. She let out a squeak of surprise, but she quickly moved the shield back in front of them and let herself kiss back for a moment. They both felt their bond spark to life and strengthen, pulling them closer together. As soon as it had happened, he forced himself to stop kissing her and instead raised his wand to cast a spell she'd never seen before.

Suddenly, in the air between them, a beautiful blue and golden line could be seen running from their cores and tying them together.

It took Alexia a moment to regain her senses, in which the Founders began commenting on it.

"You are _bonded_?" Rowena asked, her voice rising.

"That is no forced bond," Helga added. "That is a true soul bond."

"Impossible!" Godric disagreed. "Perhaps we cannot see her mark-,"

"Alexia," Salazar said sharply. "You never said you were bonded to him."

"I'm a Dolohov, we got paired up, we had sex, now we have a soul bond," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Unfortunately, it only irritated the curse still digging into her and she let out a gasp of pain and was forced to drop her arms. "Shit, that hurts. Can you guys- will you lower your wands so I can be healed?"

"What were you hit with?" Helga asked. The woman pushed her friends' arms down and made her way forward to help, prompting Alexia to finally drop the blood shield in front of them.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Antonin?"

"It is dark in origin," he said slowly. "I believe it came from Macnair."

"That's who I was fighting?"

"I looked for the magical signature on the curse in hopes it would assist me in healing you," he explained. "Macnair has no special curses - only those that he takes from others and transforms."

"Godric, Salazar, out," Helga ordered. The men hesitated, so she shot them a dirty look. "This young lady will be removing her shirt. You will not be staying. I would send Dolohov out, but as they have a soul bond, she may be able to pull on him for strength."

Godric and Salazar slipped out of the room and both of the women walked closer. When Alexia tried to pull her shirt off, she grimaced in pain at the way she had to stretch. Catching on, Antonin waved his wand at her and her shirt vanished from her body.

"Oh dear," Helga muttered to herself. She set down her wand and used her hands. While Alexia figured she was going to do wandless magic, she was wrong. Helga touched the spot on her chest where the curse was visible and Alexia hissed in pain. "This is nothing I've seen before. I believe we'll need assistance."

"Sirius," Rowena sighed. "He was raised with modern-day dark magic. He may be able to help her. I will call him."

Helga hummed as her friend walked away and waved her hand at Alexia's chest to place a heavy stasis charm, just in case the curse decided to spread. "What can either of you tell me about this Macnair?"

"He's vile," Alexia huffed. "He's got a mean Crucio according to Diggle, and he particularly loves tormenting muggles. That's what he was doing when I started fighting him - he was about to kill a woman. We were in muggle London."

"Macnair was the Dark Lord's executioner," Antonin continued for her. "Because of that, he was taught many different ways to kill a person, some that that were slow and deeply painful."

Rowena slipped back into the room. "How much immediate danger do you believe she is in?"

"It's hard to say," Helga sighed. "Do you feel anything against your magic, Alexia?"

"My core is fucked already," Alexia said plainly. "My twin bond broke in coming here. It's sort of hard to differentiate what pain comes from where."

"Oh dear," Helga grimaced. "I'm afraid that's something we can't help with. If it broke, I would assume that means your twin doesn't exist here for one reason or another."

"He's dead," she agreed. "He's dead in most places. I'm aware."

The door opened again, and they all looked over to find Sirius rushing in. Behind him, however, was Hermione.

"Hermione," Rowena called, hurrying over. She tried to get in the way so the teenager couldn't catch sight of the man next to Alexia, but she was too late.

"D-Dolohov?" Hermione said in a whisper. "What is he-,"

"Hey, it's me," Alexia called. While Rowena hadn't blocked Antonin, she had blocked Hermione's sight of Alexia. "He's mine, he won't hurt you. It's all good."

"What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked, hurrying over.

"We are not sure," Helga admitted.

"She was hit by Macnair," Antonin disagreed. "Something dark in her chest. Ten minutes ago."

Sirius pulled his wand and got to work, but not before both giving Antonin a dark glare and guiding Alexia to a chair so she could sit. His wand waved over her silently, and he was so tense and serious that it made her nervous.

"Padfoot, what's wrong with me?" she asked him. "What'd he do?"

"Alexia," Hermione said finally. She walked over slowly, doing her best to ignore Antonin, until she caught sight of the older girl. She grabbed her hand and Alexia gasped at the bond sparked between them once more. Hermione groaned at the way that Alexia pulled on her magic for help. "You died."

"Surprise, I'm back," Alexia laughed shortly, though it was cut off with the sharp pain that ran through her. She sighed and nodded at Antonin. "He took me home. Regulus brought me back. It's all fine."

"Oh, motherfucker," Sirius cursed under his breath. He dropped his wand and used wandless magic instead to begin working on the curse, tenser than before. "How long ago did you say?"

"Ten minutes," Antonin repeated. "What curse is it, Black?"

"Alexia, I want you to stay calm, okay?" Sirius requested. "But this is a- this was a curse my uncle came up with if I remember right."

"Sirius, _what is it_?" Alexia asked, reaching for Antonin in preparation.

"_Eamus Illuc_," he answered finally. There was a beat of silence before she spoke again.

"Okay, what the fuck is that?"

"_It is a curse that simulates splinching_," Antonin answered her. "_Slowly, over time. It will kill you._"

"No," she shook her head. "No. I mean, we'd have noticed if that was the case, right? Antonin, you can't-,"

"What did he say?" Hermione asked.

"She's being splinched slowly," Sirius told her with a sigh. "It starts out slow. After an hour, it picks up. Starts attacking the important things. That's when it's impossible to cure. Right now, it's splinching her cell by cell - nothing noticeable or painful."

"But you can cure it now," Alexia said, shooting him a glare, daring him to disagree. Unfortunately, he wasn't afraid of her.

"No, not really," he admitted. "My parents weren't too fond of teaching us the cures to this shit, kitten."

"We need someone well versed in curing dark curses," Helga sighed.

"_Avery would do well_," Antonin told Alexia. "_Is he alive here_?"

She hesitated. "_Adelaide's Avery helped fix my mind…_"

"What about Adelaide and Avery?" Hermione cut in, irritated. "Can you two _please_ speak English?"

"He thinks Avery could help," Alexia explained tiredly.

"He's dead here," Sirius shrugged. "Got himself blown up in a raid in '79."

"But Adelaide's is alive," Hermione pointed out. "And we know he's helped you in the past, right?"

"Well, sure," Alexia said slowly. "But there's the small issue of him being in a different universe."

"How did you guys get here?"

"I think it was the curse," Alexia replied. "Antonin grabbed me and disapparated at the same time I was hit with it, and it must've messed things up."

"Well, then why don't we just do it again?" Sirius wondered. Hermione smacked his arm and everyone else in the room shot him a glare. "What? It could work!"

"Or it could accelerate her curse and kill her," Helga stared angrily. "We will not be cursing her again."

"The answer is simple," Rowena decided. "It was meant for emergencies, of course, in the case that Hermione, Ron, and Harry go missing again. I believe, however, an exception can and should be made."

"What are you talking about?" Helga asked, straightening to look at her friend. "What did you do, Ro?"

"It was Sal's idea," Rowena defended. "Getting lost in another universe… it was perhaps the best way to assure that any other mishaps could be fixed."

"Are you telling me… you built the same fucking machine that Ruby and her stupid husband built?" Alexia asked, staring at Rowena in slight horror. "Your Dolohov is an asshole, too! What if he decides one Hermione isn't enough? If he thinks using our bond will help to- to do _something_?"

"Alexia," Sirius snapped at her. Beside him, Hermione was staring at her hands, tense.

"My point is, you can use it," Rowena said, gathering their attention. "Hopefully, with the use of your bond, you can find the man you are looking for."

"_I will help navigate_," Antonin decided. Alexia looked at him hesitantly.

"_I don't want you away from me._"

His slight smirk had her shifting in her chair. "_I do not intend to leave your side, Dorogaya. Where you go, I go. Your last multiverse trip is the last one without me._"

"It is here," Rowena told them. "In fact, we kept it in the library under this office."

"Then let's go," Sirius suggested. "We should hurry."

Everyone moved down to the library, this time with Salazar and Godric joining them again.

The library was large and impressive, but no one's focus was on the excessive collection of books in the area that was surely too small to hold them all. Instead, they went to the large machine that Hermione and Antonin recognized from Ruby's universe. Like before, the screens showed different versions of Hermione, some of whom were familiar.

"We couldn't be sure if we found the right women," Salazar explained to Hermione and Alexia. "Are any of them-,"

"That's Mia," Hermione nodded at the top left screen. Mia was lying in the middle of the kitchen table at Grimmauld Place while Remus and Regulus tried to have a discussion, ignoring her. "What is she _doing_?"

"Being the irritation she always has been," Alexia muttered. Her eyes trailed the screens until she spotted another one they knew. "That's me! Well, not me since I'm not there, but that's Jamie with Sirius and Harry… they've got the Potter Map. They'd better not be pranking without me, I had something planned with them tonight!"

"Not if we don't heal you and get you back there," Sirius cut in. "So focus."

"There," Hermione said. She pointed at the bottom screen in the middle, where Adelaide could be seen ducking a curse thrown at her by… Draco. She looked irritated as she tossed one in return and Draco barely managed to duck it.

"E4, Sal," Rowena requested. Salazar moved over and began hitting some buttons on what seemed to be a magical keyboard. After a moment, the screen in question lit up slightly, and a button just above the keyboard lit up to show it was ready. "Now this will open a sort of… portal to their universe. We will watch from here while you are cured."

"Antonin's coming with me," Alexia said firmly.

"That's not a good idea," Hermione managed. "Adelaide- Alexia, you know she had it worse than probably any of us. If Regulus sees Dolohov, he'll kill him."

"Good luck getting him away from me."

"I will not hurt her or anyone unless they try to hurt Alexia," Antonin said shortly.

Hermione's lips thinned in frustration. "Then I guess I'm coming, too. Actually, I should probably go first to warn them."

"Hermione, you're not going anywhere," Sirius disagreed. "We don't know what the hell's going on there."

"I know what _will_ happen if she just appears there with _him_," Hermione argued. "One or both of them will be killed. I won't be."

"You don't know that!"

"Professors," Hermione glanced at them. "Please. I know I haven't said much, but I know these women. Adelaide will react better to seeing me than seeing Alexia plus the man that cursed, raped, and stalked her."

Godric glanced at Sirius. "I believe she is correct."

"I don't give a shit about Adelaide, I care about _Hermione_," Sirius insisted. "She's _my_ responsibility."

"Sirius, you don't need to act like my dad," Hermione said, frustrated. "You wanted to help me by adopting me, but we agreed you didn't need to do this, so don't. I'm old enough and wise enough to make my own decisions."

"Hermione," Sirius said shortly. "What if you go there and Dolohov shows up? What if he decides one of you isn't good enough and he takes you, too?"

"I'll kill him," Alexia offered.

"We can remove them in an emergency of that sort," Rowena said carefully. "I will stay and watch them the entire time, and you're welcome to do the same."

"No, fuck that," Sirius disagreed. "If Hermione is going, I'm going."

"Sirius, you don't have to-,"

"I'm not your father, but I'm your guardian," he interrupted her. "And believe it or not, I do care about you, kitten. I don't want you to get yourself killed."

"We will leave now," Antonin ordered. "Unless you'd like to argue until this mission becomes rather pointless."

"Stand over there, please," Salazar requested, pointing at the far wall. The four of them moved and, once they were out of the way, he pressed the button. A portal popped open just as they'd been warned. With a deep breath, Hermione and Sirius walked through first.

They popped out the other side in the room Adelaide and Draco had been dueling in. The pair had stopped and were talking when they were interrupted by Hermione and Sirius falling out of the portal about two feet above the ground.

"Ow! Sirius, get- get off of me!" Hermione snapped. She shoved him off of her and he landed to her side with a thud.

"Oh, Merlin," Adelaide muttered. Draco pulled his wand and pointed it at the pair of strangers, but Adelaide raised a shield in front of them. "Don't."

"Black, they're-,"

"I'm aware," she insisted. She made her way over and offered a hand to Hermione, who took it gratefully and pulled herself to her feet. "Which…?"

"Hermione," she said.

"Okay. Which one?"

Hermione let out a noise of frustration. "Professor Slytherin came with Harry?"

"Ah, right," Adelaide nodded. "What happened? How'd you get here?"

"This was actually on purpose," Hermione said while Sirius grumbled, getting to his feet. "Because Alexia is coming."

"Okay," Adelaide said slowly. "Why?"

"She's hurt," Sirius cut in. "Really fucked up curse. I don't know how to heal it, but we collectively agreed that Avery might be able to. Issue is, he's dead in our universe."

"And he cursed her in hers," Hermione added.

"He's downstairs," Adelaide said, glancing back at Draco. "Can you-,"

"I'll get your husband, too," Draco muttered, irritated. He left the room and she turned back to them.

"So why'd you two need to come ahead of her?"

"Because she's bringing her Dolohov," Hermione said quietly. "Refuses to come without him."

"No," Adelaide said immediately. "For many reasons, actually, one of which being that the wards here will kill him if he enters, and the next being I'll kill him if the wards don't."

"He barely even looked at me," Hermione admitted. "He's focused on Alexia. I think he… I don't know. Like before, there's something there. He wants her safe."

"Hermione-,"

"I'm just going to point this out once," Sirius interrupted. "She has five minutes before the curse really starts to fuck her up and forty before she's dead. Avery's basically our only hope right now."

Adelaide's jaw tightened. She glanced back at the portal, which was still open, and stared at it angrily. "Fine, but his wand goes to me until they leave."

"Great," Hermione breathed out in relief. "What can you do about the wards?"

"They're actually down right now," she admitted. "But we're not really spreading that information, even to alternate versions of myself. We're trying to get them infused with some stronger blood magic than Dorea managed with Cassiopeia- not _Cassiopeia_. Sirius's aunt. I assume she was Cassiopeia's namesake."

Hermione glanced at the portal and waved at it. A moment later, two more people fell out, but they didn't fall to the floor like Hermione and Sirius did. Antonin caught himself and then Alexia, gripping her tightly so she could stay on her feet.

"Wand, now," Adelaide demanded, holding her palm up for Antonin. The look he shot her was a dark one, and it distracted him long enough for Alexia to slip his wand out of his hand and toss it over to Adelaide. The woman caught it and slipped it into a sheath on her arm. "Avery's coming as well as Regulus."

"Chances of them hexing him?" Alexia wondered.

"Very high. Almost certain."

Irritated, Alexia slipped away from Antonin's grasp and ran out of the room toward the stairs. At the bottom, she found the men making their way up. They both stopped at the sight of her, and Regulus even began drawing his wand. "Don't curse a dying girl."

"Alexia," Avery said. He hurried over to her when he saw her shaking and helped her sit on the stairs behind her. She'd powered through to get there, but her ankle was screaming in pain. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the welcome wagon," she said before pausing. "Well, I guess Adelaide and Draco were. _I'm_ here to tell you that Antonin is with me, and Adelaide allowed it. She's got his wand."

"She let Dolohov in?" Avery asked while Regulus rushed past them up the stairs. Alexia nodded and he helped her up again, and all the way up the stairs where they found Regulus with his wand pointed at Antonin. The tall man ignored him and looked past at Alexia.

"_You should not have walked on your ankle. You will only damage it more, durachit'._"

Alexia made a face at him. "_It was either that or watch you be cursed. I think I made the right decision._"

"Again, we aren't dealing with that," Adelaide demanded. "Speak English or I'll hex you both back through that portal."

"He's just telling me I'm an idiot and I'm telling him he's an ass," Alexia filled them in. "Is there a chair I can sit in? I can stand, you know, but it sort of hurts."

Sirius summoned one for her and she was quickly deposited in it. "She needs help immediately before her organs start disappearing."

"What were you cursed with?" Avery asked her. She offered him a somewhat shaky smile.

"No fucking clue. Apparently, my body is going to splinch itself until I die?"

Avery grimaced. "Nasty if you don't know how to cure it. Luckily for you, it's overwhelmingly simple to cure."

"It is?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"Apparate."

It made sense, really. Her body was trying to unsuccessfully Apparate, so what would help it? Successfully Apparating. Thinking of her entire body, every piece, leaving one place and appearing in another.

"The wards are down," Adelaide told her. "Go ahead and try."

Alexia managed to pull herself to her feet. Shaky, she twisted on her ankle. There was a loud crack in the room and she left her spot by Antonin's side and appeared behind everyone in front of the back wall. When she reappeared, she felt the deep pain taken abruptly from her, as if she'd left it behind. "Holy _shit_."

"Is she cured?" Hermione asked. Avery hurried over and waved his wand at the woman. When he glanced up, he nodded once.

"You're fine, Alexia."

"If you people keep calling me Alexia, I'm going to lose my mind," she stated. "Please call me Lexi or I'm going to think you're a very annoyed Lucius or Narcissa. Merlin. I had to make Cassiopeia stop, too."

"You've seen her?" Adelaide asked in surprise. "When?"

"A few months ago," Alexia shrugged. "I'm still not entirely sure what happened there. She just appeared and when I tried to help her, I got sucked in too. It was a hell of a trip. Apparently, the Norse gods are real. Antonin was incredibly nice there, too. He thought I was fucking insane for marrying my Antonin. Found me via our bond."

"That's… weird," Sirius commented. "If they can find you through your bond, can this universe's Dolohov find Hermione?"

"No," Adelaide answered shortly. "Dolohov, can you feel either of us?"

"I cannot."

"Can't double up on a bond," Alexia agreed. "She's fine here. What bond d'you have with him again?"

"One impossible to destroy or overpower," Hermione answered tiredly. "There's no cure."

"The only way to destroy the bond she holds is to embrace it," Antonin explained. "And then both parties destroy it together. It must be a mutual decision."

"Well, can't she just find an alternate version of you to help?" Alexia wondered.

"She could use him!" Sirius said excitedly.

"No, she couldn't," Alexia glared. "Our bond is too strong since it's sealed. It'd be like Adelaide coming to your universe and trying to bond with Regulus there."

"Regulus is dead," he said shortly. Alexia coughed.

"Right. My universe, then. The point stands."

"So what you're saying is that we need to find a universe with a _nice_ Dolohov and have him help her?"

Alexia shrugged. "Yeah."

"But they're all bastards," Adelaide reminded her.

"Except for the one I met a few months ago," Alexia spoke up. "I'd bet he'll help out if I asked."

"Good luck finding him," Adelaide shot back. "It's a multiverse, Lexi."

"Fine, I'll help," she made a face. "I know who we're looking for. Whenever you want to do this, come get me and I'll help you find them."

"How could she come get you?" Avery asked, glancing between the woman that looked uncomfortably like Adelaide and the younger Hermione.

"The Founders of fucking Hogwarts decided to make the multiverse machine," Alexia explained. "It's how we got here."

"And it's how you're going to get back," Adelaide told them. "Not that it's not great to see you both, but I want Dolohov out of here now. Feel free to come visit without him."

"Sounds good," Alexia agreed. "My core hurts from being away from James."

"Go on through," Hermione suggested. "You should get home quick."

"Right," she nodded. She wobbled back over to Antonin, who grabbed her, and with a short wave, the two of them jumped back through the portal. They came out the other side, where the Founders all stood waiting.

"Apparition," Rowena commented. "It is, truthfully, quite obvious."

"You will return home now?" Godric wondered.

"Yes," Antonin confirmed. "I need to ensure she is truly cured."

"Plus, my ankle," she added. "Hey, if I ever need to get to another universe again-,"

"Leave us a message," Helga told her with a smile. "We will do what we can to help."

"Have Hermione let you know what we figured out about her curse," she suggested. "She'll need my help for it."

"You found a cure?" Godric asked in surprise.

"Not a cure, but a way to break it," Antonin disagreed. "We must return."

"Of course," Rowena agreed. She pressed a few buttons and a new portal appeared before them, aside the one that led to Adelaide's universe that was still open. "Good luck."

"Thanks!" she called. Antonin pulled her gently through the portal, and the pair fell out in Potter Manor where James stood in front of their family, looking stressed. "We're back!"

"_Alexia_!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo


End file.
